Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
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ても / でも (Even If)

ても / でも (Even If)

ても / でも (Even If) Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Conjunction

Essential Meaning: Even if / Although

Construction: 

  • (Verb / い-Adjective / な-Adjective) て-Form + も
    • E.g. 話はなしても [Even if X speaks]
    • E.g. 食たべても [Even if X eats]
    • E.g. 高たかくても [Even if X is expensive]
    • E.g. 静しずかでも [Even if X is quiet]
  • Noun + でも
    • E.g. 先生せんせいでも [Even if X is a teacher]

Notes:

  • ても / でも (Even If) has essentially the same meaning as the English expressions “Even if” or “Even though“. It conveys the idea that X is the case even if Y is the case. Note that the overall tense of the sentence is determined by the final predicate.
    • E.g. 中山なかやまさんは本ほんを買かっても読よみません。[Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.]
    • E.g. 私わたしは四時間よじかん歩あるいても疲つかれなかった。[Even though I walked for four hours, I didn’t get tired.]
  • The idiomatic expression てもいいですか？ is used to request permission for something. The reply would be either yes (はい、いいです。) or no (いいえ、行いけません。).
    • E.g. A: タバコを吸すってもいいですか。B: はい、いいです。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Yes, it’s all right.]
    • E.g. A: タバコを吸すってもいいですか。B: いいえ、行いけません。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Not, it’s not.]
  • Question words such as だれ [Who], なに [What], and どこ [Where] can be prefixed to a ても / でも construction to say “No matter X” (i.e. “No matter who“, “No matter what“, “No matter how much“, etc.).
    • E.g. 誰だれに話はなしても [No matter who X speaks to]
    • E.g. 何なにを話はなしても [No matter what X speaks about]
    • E.g. どこで話はなしても [No matter where X speaks]
    • E.g. いつ話はなしても [No matter when X speaks]
    • E.g. どう話はなしても [No matter how X speaks]
    • E.g. どんなに話はなしても [No matter how much X speaks]
  • ても / でも (Even If) is comparable but not identical to けれど and のに (Even Though). けれど and のに (Even Though) are equivalent to the English “Although“, while ても / でも (Even If) is equivalent to the English “Even if“. In other words, ても / でも (Even if) has more of a hypothetical interpretation. One other difference is that けれど and のに (Even Though) can not replace ても / でも (Even If) in a Question Word + ても / でも construction.
    • E.g. 中山なかやまさんは本ほんを買かっても読よみません。 [Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.] This example comes across as hypothetical. Nakayama-san may or may not actually buy books.
    • E.g. 中山なかやまさんは本ほんを買かうけれど / のに読よみません。[Although Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.] This example comes across as more literal. Nakayama-san does in fact buy books.
    • E.g. *中山なかやまさんは何なにを食たべる けれど / のに [No matter what Nakayama-san eats] けれど and のに (Even Though) can not be used in a Question Word + ても / でも construction.

Example Sentences:

私わたしは雨あめが降ふっても行いく。[Even if it rains, I will go.]

私わたしは寒さむくても出でかける。[Even if it’s cold, I will go out.]

僕ぼくがトムでも同おなじことをしただろう。[Even if I were Tom, I would have probably done the same thing.]

中山なかやまさんは本ほんを買かっても読よみません。 [Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.]

私わたしは四時間よじかん歩あるいても疲つかれなかった。[Even though I walked for four hours, I didn’t get tired.]

何なにを食たべてもおいしいです。[No matter what I eat, it tastes delicious.]

誰だれに聞きいてもわからなかった。[No matter who I asked, I couldn’t understand.]

A: タバコを吸すってもいいですか。B: はい、いいです。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Yes, it’s all right.]

どんなに丈夫じょうぶでも体からだには気きをつけたほうがいい。[No matter how strong your body is, you should be careful.]

井上いのうえさんが先輩せんぱいでもぼくははっきり言いうつもりだ。[Even if Inoue-san is my senior, I intend to speak to him directly.]

WILD Examples:

At 0:50, listen for this line: だけど大おおきくなってもすずめはすずめ [However, even when they grow up, a sparrow is just a sparrow.] The idea behind this verse is that the kids are speculating what the baby sparrows will become when they grow up, and the kids conclude that even when the sparrows get big they’ll still just be sparrows.

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